The things you hate to see in Short films?

L

lightcameraction

Hey.

Can you tell me what do you hate to see in short films ? Such as different cliches ,stories or shots .. Basically everything you hate, maybe something about the set design or the sound and all of that.
 
Very few things I can't stand, but some...

  • Protagonist suicide at end :rolleyes:
  • Innapropriate age casting
  • Terrible pacing

I've watched thousands of short films with terrible camerawork, abysmal sound, dodgy acting ability, rocky scripts, dollar-store production value... and enjoyed the heck out of the majority of them :abduct:

You're in big trouble if you make my short-list. :lol:
 
-awful sound
-NO set/production design at all (the worst offender is the ugly empty white or grey wall)
-bad composition/framing
-No lighting, or alternately - 'light as flat as possible just to get some sort of exposure and then will fix it in post... that's what the pros do yeah?'
 
FIlms that don't go anywhere. It seems like a lot of short films are built around a good premise, but then that's not turned into a story with a beginning, middle and end. Things just sort of happen, then it's over, and it feels like a waste of time.
 
All of the above.

And too much post-denouement content. To be fair, this is a complaint I have with many feature films as well. Far too many films end 5-25 minutes after they should have.

See Gallipoli to understand what I mean. It is the best example of a film ending precisely where/when it should have and not a moment sooner or later.
 
Blaming a cr@p short on:
#1. I was drunk when I did that.
#2. I didn't have enough time.
#3. I didn't have enough sleep.

Mostly, it's someone who doesn't know how to write an entertaining short story followed by someone who doesn't know how to even operate his/her equipment.

GIGO
 
my face! I hate to see that in short films... its only been in one, and you'll never see it thank goodnes...

Jittery handheld. I like handheld in generally, but there is some that has this supper jittery look.. (handheld with no added mass most likely)

Magic Bullet Looks presets!

Popular songs that you obviously don't have a right to use!

Fat, dull, nerdy white guys acting just like they look.

hand gun held gagsta style
 
so many things haha, that isn't to say Im right or that other people wouldn't also hate my work!

however I think my main hates are;

Underdeveloped characters, when someone has put some effort in to making the short, but they obviously haven't thought about the characters, or what they are doing in the film.

as zen said, slow pacing gets to me big time, as does leaving a shot to continue way too long, such as having someone walking away from the camera for like 30 seconds haha.

And my biggest pet hate, is people writing scripts around ideas or places or people that they dont know, Basically i mean someone from manchester or somewhere random writing a script about CIA agents in wisconsin in winter, or anything like that. People need to remember to write about what they know, not just guess what wisconsin looks like in the winter, then just film it in some woods.

/rantover

I didnt mean to rant, but I have some really talented short film makers, even some real beginners yet they are always let down by quite simple things, things that can usually be avoided early on in pre production, however this is not to say that I havent made each and every one of these mistakes, even if half the time I dont realise it haha!
 
My main problem is when people don't enjoy making the films they put out. If someone doesn't actually like the short, chances are they won't care enough to actually make it good. Filming just to push crap out on youtube is not entertaining. I mainly make shorts to have fun, and that's what we do. The end product isn't always great, but the memories we made making them make them seem funnier to me.

A major gripe I have, though, is when people just use the default Windows Movie Maker font and animation and try to pass it off as credits. Scrolling credits are also a pet peeve, but that's just me.

-Isaac
 
-No colour grading at all (orange skin tones from not quite correct white balance) or alternately, completely over-done 'grading' (normally in the form of MB looks, often includes subtle vignettes over the footage, contrast often pushed up way too much and the overall blue level up way too much)
-I agree with poor handheld. Holding a DSLR in your hands while trying to keep it steady does not make a 'handheld' shot.
-Easy locations as opposed to the right locations (you can generally tell)
-Credits where the Director/DP/Editor/Sound Recordist/Sound Designer is credited seperately for each 'job' they performed. Alternately, scrolling credits that go for 30 seconds because not enough people worked on the film.
 
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- Being boring. Doing things that outsiders really don't care about.... and Failing to take Hitchcock's advice: Movies are real life with the boring bits taken out.
- Poor pacing
- Poor angles and bad cutting
- Inconsistent Production Quality throughout. Eg using a high end intro stock footage switching to a poorly colored shooting.
- Scenes lit enough that you can at a minumum see what is happening. Obviously prefer well lit scenes.
- Unable to clearly hear what is going on.
- Characters doing unbelievable situations or actions with no basis or no development of suspension of disbelief.
- Scripts that haven't been tightened and that don't use the 3 act structure without reason. Irrelevant parts left in.
 
-scenes where nothing, or nothing of importance happens (I should be drawn into your short from the first second, not be bored to tears for the first 6 minutes of 'setup' until something happens)
-inconsistent shot continuity. People seem to get so caught up in the minute continuity details (such as was he holding the fork in his right or left hand) and seem to put absolutely no thought at all into shot continuity, from a standpoint of production design, angle, shot size and lighting continuity. It is important. Actually just lighting in general seems to be poor, but lighting continuity is often bad, unless it's 100% outside (and even then...)
-sticking on wide lenses for no apparent reason, or alternately because it's easier to keep things in focus, rather than because it is the right choice for the film/scene/shot.
 
Lol great thread. I'd say my pet peeves are:

-Poor writing. (not believable in any way, shape, or form. Even if the acting is sub-par, solid writing can hide a lot of the acting flaws)
-Bad framing and cutting (at least try and make it look professional)
-Cliche horror, action, comedy movies that you know wouldn't make it anywhere except for youtube (BE ORIGINAL)
-Give me something I've never seen before.
 
In this order:

Long logo.
Opening credits.
Piano solo.
Slow fade in from black.
Alarm clock goes off.
Morning hygene routine.
Milk pouring.
Grab keys.
Walks to car.
. . .

Any ONE of these is enough for me to quit watching, yet many short films begin just like this.
 
Unless your logo animation looks totally awesome it can't go longer than 10 seconds.

No opening credits unless it somehow works for the film

Complete lack of colour grade/correction or extremely blue or otherwise fake looking. Yes we all start out not realizing the importance of it but it is something that exposes a degree of inexperience.

Handheld.... Handheld in a professional film I understand is almost always on a shoulder rig, or at the very least the camera is heavy enough to get rid of the stupid little finger shakes

Kids with guns. I used to do it but now a days I close a video unless I see potential for it to be either funny or their video skill is truly unique and/or professional looking

Someone using an overused stock video/audio often from video copilot without even adjusting levels or combining multiple together to make the stock look a little more subtle

Lazy cuts in the edit where you might see the actor moving into place or looking at the camera.

I was guilty of most of these back when I was 13 but these kind of errors need to be fixed ASAP IMO. Generally once someone corrects one of these mistakes you never see it again from their videos, which is good
 
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